Sc2 4v4 extreme graphics, what gpu?

General Discussion
1

hey guys! i really want to run starcraft 2 on extreme/ultra graphics, what gpu do you think can do it on 4v4? my monitor is 1080p, and i have a overclocked i7 2600k with 16gb ram. i know sc2 is 2 core only but i feel like im fine on the cpu portion for this game.
for my budget and looking at used gpu’s, it seems like i can find gtx 680/780 or r9 290x or radeon 7970 for around my budget, are these gpu good enough to max it out? or i need to up my budget? or should i look for a different gpu that is newer that i can find at a similar budget range?

lastly, is it true that sc2 runs better on a nvidia gpu? or will a r9 290x be able to blow it out of the water fine?

i also read that some people with better gpu’s cant even run it on 4v4 extreme 200/200 battle, which i understand and in that case i will just lower the graphics settings. however i just want to find the chepaest gpu that can theoretically max it out 4v4 extreme

thx!

2

I have a CPU Ryzen 3700x and 5700XT graphics card.

I can tell you without a shadow of a doubt that CPU will be your bottleneck to play 4v4 at maximum quality graphics, not GPU. The poor SC2 game engine unfortunately only uses 1 CPU Core so my GPU cannot go above 40% usage in the game because of that. So, I end up with a lot of GPU horsepower being unused. Not to mention SC2 is far more CPU hungry than GPU.

That being said, an R9 290X OR GTX 780 should be enough to max SC2 graphics but you will need a CPU with strong single core performance. In that regard you will need an i7.

3

thank you so much for the reply! yeah i have an i7 2600k, i have it oc’d. if that is my bottleneck then it is okay because i wont be upgrading my cpu.
do you know if i can go for something cheaper then the 680 or 290x and still be able to max it out? like a 270x or a gtx 770? or a radeon 7970 or something?

or should i stay minimum at a r9 290x or gtx 680 because then i have extra cushin?

4

The Radeon 7970 is quite old, I don’t think the GPU would handle the game in max settings. A Gtx 770 though or a R9 290X should be your best safe bet for your budget.